Bearing Witness
New England

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  • The Standout
  • Our Goals
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    • Home
    • The Standout
    • Our Goals
    • Inside ICE
    • About
    • Media Inquiries

Bearing Witness
New England

Bearing Witness New EnglandBearing Witness New EnglandBearing Witness New England
  • Home
  • The Standout
  • Our Goals
  • Inside ICE
  • About
  • Media Inquiries

Our Goals: What we’re demanding of ICE

Demands for the Building:

  • Due process for every individual
  • Communication with family
  • Visitors for prisoners
  • Humane conditions
  • Accompaniment for appointments

Demands for the Town:

  • Inspectors: Make unannounced visits for safety inspections
  • Bob Murray (building owner leasing to ICE): Donate all rent profits to immigrant support groups
  • National Development (company managing surrounding land and parking lots): Tell ICE to stop parking in lots; support peaceful protests

Demands for the State:

  • Zero cooperation with ICE
  • Proactively inconvenience ICE
  • Support for immigrants and advocacy organizations
  • Pro-immigrant legislation

Demands for the Federal Government:

  • Elected officials to make repeated, unannounced inspections (plural)
  • Elected officials to show up in your communities to stand with constituents and immigrants
  • Abolish ICE

Our Goals: What we’re asking of ourselves

Remain a nonviolent, inclusive peaceful protest for solidarity, education, and connection

● Show love and support for immigrants

● Express shame at ICE

● Remain focused on bearing witness without getting distracted

● Exchange knowledge and opportunities

Build the movement and achieve extreme solidarity

● “Regardless of your views on any other issues, if you support immigrants and their constitutional rights and are committed to nonviolence we want you to join us.”

Leverage our people power to:

● Support immigrants, advocacy organizations, and other protest actions

● Make ICE facility an inescapable feature of Burlington for residents and visitors

● Influence local, state, and federal officials

● Build relationships with local businesses

Our Tactics
Why are we not sitting in front of vans or blocking the street? 

Why are we not shouting obscenities at the building? 

Why do we emphasize safety and de-escalation? 

Why do we use self-restraint and avoid cathartic responses?

We will never win hearts and minds with violence, only through peace.

Our CONSISTENCY – our weekly presence, our unwavering commitment to nonviolence, our singular focus on immigrants’ constitutional and human rights – is our power and the key to growing support and expanding our influence.

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